%0 Journal Article
%T Alcohol Exposures, Alcohol Marketing, and Their Associations with Problem Drinking and Drunkenness among Youth Living in the Slums of Kampala, Uganda
%A Monica H. Swahn
%A Jane B. Palmier
%A Rogers Kasirye
%J ISRN Public Health
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/948675
%X This study determined the associations between alcohol use exposures, marketing, education, and problem drinking and drunkenness among youth living in the slums of Kampala. This cross-sectional study of youth was conducted in 2011 to quantify and describe high-risk behavior and exposures in a convenience sample ( ) of urban youth living in the slums, 14¨C24 years of age, who were participating in a drop-in center for disadvantaged street youth. Logistic regression analyses were computed to determine associations between alcohol use exposures, marketing exposures, alcohol education, and problem drinking and drunkenness while controlling for possible confounders. Among participants, 30.2% reported problem drinking and 32.8% reported drunkenness. In multivariate analyses, obtaining free drinks was associated with problem drinking (AOR: 2.47; 95% CI£¿=£¿ 1.23¨C4.96) and drunkenness (AOR: 2.40; 95% CI£¿=£¿1.22¨C4.70) after controlling for potential confounders. Alcohol education measures were not significantly associated with either problem drinking or drunkenness in multivariate analyses. There are important associations between alcohol marketing and drinking among these youth. Moreover, the findings underscore the need for additional research related to the impact of alcohol marketing among vulnerable youth and also the need for policy regulations that restrict alcohol marketing that involve providing free alcohol directly to youth. 1. Introduction Alcohol use is the most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world and is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide [1]. Alcohol abuse causes 3.2% (1.8 million) of all deaths worldwide annually and also accounts for 4.0% of the global disease burden each year [2]. Research has shown that alcohol use is associated with alcohol addiction [3], other drug use [4], unintentional injuries [5, 6], physical fighting [7], criminal activity [4], suicidal ideation and attempts [8¨C10], and increased risk of human immunodeficiency disease (HIV) [11, 12]. In order to address this global public health issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently prioritized the global reduction of the harmful use of alcohol with a particular focus on monitoring and technical support [13]. Even with limited data, it is still evident that low-income and middle-income countries, and vulnerable populations within, bear an increased burden of disease and injury due to increasing alcohol consumption and limited or nonexistent public health and prevention policies and programs [1]. In sub-Saharan Africa, alcohol use has been
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.public.health/2013/948675/